Let’s take a trip down New York Knicks memory lane, shall we?
In 2012, Jeremy Lin went on a short tear for the Knicks, and helped the team win nine of 10 games once being given adequate playing time. ‘Linsanity’ was born.
Lin became an international star, yet the Knicks surprisingly elected not to re-sign him. He went on to ink a three-year deal worth $25 million with the Houston Rockets.
Lin has bounced around since and has never quite lived up to the hype of Linsanity, but is having a respectable campaign as the sixth-man and part-time starter with the Charlotte Hornets this season.
Apparently, the Knicks’ two stars at the time, Carmelo Anthony and Amar’e Stoudemire, reacted to Lin’s emergence in incredibly different ways. Stoudemire, who was bought out by the Knicks last season and made his return to Madison Square Garden on Sunday with the Miami Heat, indirectly threw an abundance of shade Anthony’s way when speaking to reporters during his return to the big apple.
When asked about the state of the franchise, Stoudemire replied,
“It’s been a lot going on and it hasn’t really been great over the years,” the Heat center said before scoring eight points in a 98-81 victory over the Knicks. “It’s hard for me to watch from the outside looking in because I was so involved with creating a positive atmosphere around the Knicks. Now it’s gone the opposite way.”
When asked directly about Lin, Stoudemire pulled zero punches,
“Everyone wasn’t a fan of him being the new star,” Stoudemire said without mentioning specific players. “So he didn’t stay long. But Jeremy was a great, great guy. Great teammate. He worked hard. He put the work in and we’re proud of him to have his moment. A lot of times you gotta enjoy someone’s success. And that wasn’t the case for us during that stretch.”
“You got to enjoy that. You got to let that player enjoy himself and cherish those moments. He was becoming a star and I don’t think everybody was pleased with that.”
You don’t have to be one of the world’s foremost linguistic interpreters to understand Stoudemire was referring to Anthony.
Anthony was questioned about Stoudemire’s comments and said,
“If that was the case, I’d be upset right now with K.P.(Kristaps Porzingis),”Anthony said. “I doubt he’s talking about me. I highly doubt that.”
Well, everyone knows Stoudemire was talking about Anthony, and after some time to let everything sink in, it seems Anthony has decided to respond. Anthony appears to have taken a number of indirect shots at Stoudemire on Monday via Twitter.
pic.twitter.com/YYDLApmUmg
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) February 29, 2016
pic.twitter.com/3SiXWptg6W
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) February 29, 2016
pic.twitter.com/Mg8RNwX0Ld
— Carmelo Anthony (@carmeloanthony) February 29, 2016
So, there you have it. Like every other ‘beef’ that occurs in our technology-driven culture, this schism has made its natural migration to social media. The truth can likely be found somewhere in between Stoudemire’s comments and Anthony’s tweets.
Lin has yet to publicly comment.
